


Rewind (ENG)

by NaitiaClo960



Series: Suptober 2020 (ENG) [12]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Childhood Memories, Drunk John Winchester, John Winchester A+ parenting, Memories, Nostalgia, Optimistic Dean Winchester, POV Dean Winchester, Suptober 2020 (Supernatural), The Impala (Supernatural), mention of past character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26980567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaitiaClo960/pseuds/NaitiaClo960
Summary: The Winchesters had not kept many memories of their earliest childhood. When the fire broke out and the house burned down, all their possessions were gone except for a small box containing photos that John kept in the trunk of the Impala. Dean perfectly remembered the day Sam asked him to open the box with him.[Suptober, day 12]
Series: Suptober 2020 (ENG) [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951687
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Suptober 2020 (ENG)





	Rewind (ENG)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> As promised, here is day 12 with some nostalgia. Thanks again to Amber for her corrections (so precious)!  
> Enjoy!

The Winchesters had not kept many memories of their earliest childhood. When the fire broke out and the house burned down, all their possessions were gone except for a small box containing photos that John kept in the trunk of the Impala. Dean remembered seeing it for many years without John really pulling it out of there, warm in the false bottom of the car. On rare evenings, however, John took the time to take it with him to the motel room where they were staying before he plunged back into the past years.

Aside from a few pictures of his mother or him as a baby, Dean hadn’t seen much else. John jealously guarded the box as if he were afraid it would catch fire too. Fortunately, the years passed and with them, the fear of opening this box faded. Dean had been allowed to keep a photo of his mother, brother and himself in his wallet while he was already old enough to hunt. Later, John disappeared and the box returned to them.

Dean perfectly remembered the day Sam asked him to open the box with him. They had just returned to Lawrence to take care of a poltergeist in their old house and had briefly seen their mother’s ghost at the bottom of the stairs. This vision had been such a shock and, John not being around, Dean decided that a night to remember the good old days couldn’t hurt. Although they both had very few stories to tell in the photos, being too young to remember.

The years went by and the box followed them. It made a short stop at Bobby’s when Dean had to fix the Impala from top to bottom before following them back to the roads and finally landing at the bunker. Sam and Dean had taken the liberty of sharing a few photos to put in their room before carefully storing the box under the elder’s bed.

It was therefore not uncommon for Dean to dig up these photos, which he now knew by heart, during a lonely evening. They had taken care to weigh down the box with other memories over the years and now, other faces came to rub shoulders with those of the Winchester family. Nevertheless, these faces were still family members themselves.

Sighing and the outline weighed down by an invisible weight that seemed unable to leave him since months, Dean sat down on the edge of his bed and opened the box again with some relief. Going through these photos was like going back to his childhood. It was to go back in time and rewind the tape of his life to replay the best moments. With a small smile on his face, Dean contemplated another portrait of his mother holding a smaller version of him in her arms at the hospital. Mary was younger in this photo and she had always been radiant. _Of course, it wasn’t like she had to endure the damage of time_ , Dean somberly thought. He carefully set the photo aside and took another.

This one was more recent, he had to be at least 26 years old and his brother four years younger. Dean remembered that Bobby had taken this picture in the backyard of his car wreckage while the two brothers laughed at a joke he had long forgotten. Sam still wore such short hair that it came into his eyes and Dean had this oversized leather jacket on his shoulders that had once belonged to his father and that he wore for years. Everything seemed simple and light at the time despite their already hectic life.

Dean gently nodded at his little brother’s childish face in this photo.

He knew that Sam kept his own memories in his room, lying on his desk or hanging on the cork board above it. In addition to a few other pictures from their childhood, one photo was different from the others. Dean had already noticed it, as it seemed to be much better preserved than the others despite the fact that it was at least a decade old now, as if Sam was taking special care of it. In the picture, one could distinguish a young blonde woman with a face dotted with moles standing beside Sam wearing a Stanford sweatshirt. Both seemed to be at a student party and held hands with a shy smile. Maybe then Sam sometimes had the same wish as him, to reverse the course of time to find the one he once loved.

Dean put the photo with his brother on the bed and went through some other memories before stopping at the photo they had taken at Bobby’s. " _The last night on Earth_ ," had he said before the camera went off with a quick click. He almost regretted having said those few words now that extinct faces were sitting on that photo in place of the usual smiles. Everyone was preparing for death that evening, and some found it.

Dean also lingered on Castiel’s serious face, ramrod straight in his eternal oversized trench coat. This angel who had sacrificed everything for them and who continued to do so day in, day out at their side. He briefly wondered if Castiel also kept pictures of his brothers and sisters somewhere, perhaps of his garrison even. But the angel was not on good terms with more than half of his fellows, and even if he was, he doubted that any of them would ever let themselves be photographed. As a result, Dean was pleased to know that they were probably the only family in which Castiel had several photos of him, some even showing him with a rare relaxed smile. Like this one where Sam was teaching him how to use a computer and the angel laughing at one of Dean’s jokes.

He also took the time to look at Bobby, the surrogate father whom he missed a little more every day, but that he was happy to find in this box whenever he needed it. Lost in his thoughts, Dean looked up at another picture in the box depicting him and Sam fishing with John. Dean moistened his lips with a nostalgic look for the photo, almost melancholic. He remembered that day when the three of them spent the afternoon at a pond in Oklahoma before taking out that huge pike out of the water and that they were showing in the photo. However, their faces were relatively closed in the picture which revived this bitterness in Dean’s chest.

He also remembered the night before when John was so drunk while looking at Mary’s pictures that he started crying in their motel room. Sam woke up to his sobs as Dean tried to comfort their father as best he could, but no appropriate words could come out of his mouth. He had felt so helpless in the face of his father mourning the death of a mother that he himself could not overcome, even years later. When John wasn’t at the motel, Dean was worried every day that he wouldn’t come back and walk through their room door. When he was there, the days were never the same: either John would take them out for a nice burger at the local diner, or he would drink until he couldn’t move.

Dean didn’t even count the nights he had to take care of his father in addition to his younger brother who barely understood what was going on. He did not consider having an unhappy childhood, he had grown up with Sam and it was the only home he needed to be happy. But he could not help but think back to those moments of solitudes that he had felt as a teenager when he saw other children growing up differently.

Dean sighed and tried to get ride of his dark thoughts. In any case, there was no point in bringing up the past like that, he already had too much to do with the present and his responsibilities. Moreover, he felt that he had not progressed that badly despite all the events of his life. Slowly, Dean put the pictures away and closed the box before putting it back under his bed. He barely had time to get up that he already heard Sam calling him to eat, Castiel having just returned. A pleasant smile stretched his lips.

Yes, he didn’t particularly want to live in the past. Not anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave a few words in the comments to let me know if you like this OS and take good care of yourself!  
> Day 13 follows in a few hours :)


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